Prescriptive easements are almost always a problem and there must be a jillion of them in our mostly rural county. They are usually not recorded accurately on property titles, if recorded at all.

In our case, the easement was the only access to our house and had been in use for more than 50 years. Even after spending thousands of dollars trying to come to a legal and amicable settlement, we had to deal with a landowner who put up large bumps across the road (the sheriff made him take them down) and blocked our way, shotgun in hand. And this more than 30 years ago, a time when neighborly conversation was not usually armed.

It seems to us that Mr. John Philbrick has a pretty nice situation, one we would have been happy with. Are Mr. Philbrick and his attorney Sophie Treder kicking up dust, trying to soil the reputation of political opponent, Michielssen? That’s the way it looks to us.